Independent, Community-Based Aerobic Exercise Training for People With Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective To determine whether people with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can adhere to a minimally supervised, community-based, vigorous aerobic exercise program. Design Prospective trial. Setting Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) facilities. Participants Community-dwelling volunteers (N=10; 8 men, 2 women; age range, 22–49y) 6 to 15 months after moderate-to-severe TBI. Intervention Participants received memberships to local YMCAs and brief orientations to exercise. They were then asked to independently complete ≥12 weeks of ≥3 training sessions per week, performed at 65% to 85% of maximum heart rate for ≥30 minutes per session. Participants could self-select exercise modality, provided they met intensity and duration targets. Programmable heart rate monitors captured session intensity and duration. Main Outcome Measures Independence with equipment and facility use and compliance with training goals (session frequency, duration, intensity, total weeks of training). Results All participants achieved independence with equipment and facility use. All met at least 2 of 4 training goals; half met all 4 goals. Participants averaged (±SD) 3.3±0.7 sessions per week for 13 weeks (range, 6–24). Average ± SD session duration was 62±23 minutes, of which 51±22 minutes occurred at or above individuals' heart rate training targets. Conclusions People in recovery from moderate-to-severe TBI can, with minimal guidance, perform vigorous, community-based exercise. This suggests that decentralized exercise may be logistically and economically sustainable after TBI, expanding its potential therapeutic utility and rendering longer-duration exercise studies more feasible.